I have just returned from a few days photographing the landscape of Northumberland. The focus was on its coast line. I must say I enjoyed the place a great deal. Northumberland’s coast line is steeped in the history of the many conflicts which have been enacted there. The many castles were defences against invading Vikings and […]
March 21, 2014
Whilst my mind is still turning on landscape photography I thought I would document here some recent investigations I’ve made into the question of why some ‘romantic’ landscape photography has been well received by the art community, whereas most have been dismissed as needless idealisations. For the purposes of this analysis I have focused on […]
March 20, 2014
I have been absent from this blog and productive work on my degree course for around five weeks. My time has been spent on other pursuits – three weeks training hard in Lanzarote for upcoming triathlon races, a few days at home catching up on life, a week in Scotland walking and photographing the landscape […]
December 14, 2013
I have been in Cornwall for a few days with a group of landscape photographers lead by Joe Cornish and David Ward. It was great to get out into the landscape and meet some passionate landscape photographers…. a refreshing change from my lonely London perambulations… I had the opportunity to work with my Phase One […]
November 27, 2013
The landscape photographer work has got me thinking about what a stereotypical landscape might look like. I’ve been doing a little research on gender and landscape photography. In Land Matters Liz Wells suggests that “…limited attention was paid to gender and landscape in these debates [on feminist theory]. In the UK one reason for this […]
November 27, 2013
The YOP course notes explain how Gestalt theory has been valuable in its approach to visual recognition. Modern Gestalt theory takes an holistic approach to perception and proposes that in viewing an entire scene the mind can take a sudden leap from recognising the individual elements to understanding it in its entirety. A number of […]
February 11, 2013
I’ve just spent the last week up in Scotland getting reacquainted with the landscape. I was on a workshop with about 20 other photographers, most of whom concentrate on landscape work. Amongst them were the well known British photographers Joe Cornish and David Ward. Eddie Ephraums a book publisher was also one of the leaders. […]
January 22, 2013
I’ve been looking again at books I read on the Landscape module of the OCA photography degree course. I’ve been getting my mind back into landscape mode for my trip to Scotland in two weeks time. The book I’ve just re-read is the Oxford History of Art Landscape and Western Art. This is a good overview of […]
January 14, 2013
I have yet to enrol for Photography Your Own Portfolio which would be my last module on the OCA degree course. I expect to do so in a few months time and hope to complete the course by the middle of next year. Through research and reading I’ve been gathering ideas which could be of […]
January 9, 2013
At the beginning of February I am going on a photographic workshop in Scotland. The leaders of the workshop are Joe Cornish, David Ward, Eddie Ephraums and Adrian Hollister. I attended the workshop last year and thoroughly enjoyed myself. A particular highlight was learning about book production from Eddie who is a publisher – we […]
October 16, 2012
Whilst in Venice I experimented with my Zero Image 2000 pinhole camera. As I have indicated elsewhere in this blog I am trying to get to know how to use pinhole cameras so that I can use them for my long exposure portrait project. I was a little disappointed with the results from the trip. […]
October 10, 2012
I have been lucky enough to have another photograph published in the Big Issue of the North…the rainy scene in the pinhole photograph I made of St Paul’s – the actor’s church in Covent Garden struck a chord given the current preoccupation with the wet weather and flooding in the North….it also presented an opportunity […]
September 15, 2012
Some time ago I bought a Harman Titan Pinhole camera. This device shoots 5×4 film and the kit comes with a 10 pack of Ilford Delta 100 film. It has a focal length of 72 mm which equates to around 20mm in 35mm terms and an aperture of f/206. I used the film ages ago […]
February 19, 2012
Just got back from a few days on a photo workshop in Wester Ross. It was very instructive particularly from the point of view of photo editing and book production. I also gained some valuable hands on help with my 5×4 camera. One of the tasks we took on during the week was to produce […]
October 18, 2011
I visited the John Blakemore exhibition at the Hooper Gallery in London. Blakemore is a British photographer who has worked in the field for upwards of 40 years. He has been a lecturer and is now emeritus Professor of Photography at Derby University. Blakemore’s work is largely in black and white but some colour work including […]
October 13, 2011
I have been reading John Blakemore’s classic work Black and White Photography Workshop. Whilst I am unlikely to use the great advice on darkroom practice and traditional printing, the book contains much of interest. I plan to post my thoughts on his ideas after I have seen his retrospective exhibition showing in London – it […]
September 25, 2011
I have just got back from a Large Format Landscape Photography Workshop in the Gower Peninsula in Wales. The event was run by David Ward and Phil Malpas of Light and Land. David and Phil have both published a number of books on contemporary landscape photography practice. Their roots are very much in the tradition […]
April 25, 2015
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